The Young Queens.

The night I was trying to figure out how to write my Queen Mary I vs. Lady Jane Grey post, I got sidetracked and started thinking about the future queens. Right now there are only two Queen Regent monarchs: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. After they both pass on, their sons will reign in their place and hopefully their grandsons after them but what you may not know is that there might be FIVE Queens in the coming years and I find that absolutely fascinating considering everybody would rather have a king than a queen, whether or not she is their wife or daughter.

I really don’t know how to really start this post, because I don’t want anybody to be confused but I thought it would be an interesting hope for the world that one day all five princesses will be on the throne of their native country someday.

I’m going to start with Spain. The reason why I want to discuss Leonor, Princess of Asturias (11) is because if her parents King Felipe VI and Queen consort Letizia have a son, Leonor will take a step back on the act of succession, like I explained in my first paragraph, Spain is one of the countries that is male preferred.

Spain has had a total of three queen regents, starting in 1479 Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile ruled together and their oldest daughter Joanna of Castile or as she’s known around the world: Joanna The Mad became Queen of Spain in 1504. After Fredinand VII died in 1833, his daughter Isabel II became the last Queen to rule in Spain until she had to abdicate the throne in 1868 to her son Alfonso XII despite the fact that he was not her first child, Isabel, Princess of Asturias was born in six years before him.

Leonor isn’t the only one that has a hefty line of Queen rulers. Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange is thirteen years old and is the heiress apparent of King Willem-Alexander and his wife Queen Máxima. Before her father came onto the throne, her grandmother Queen Beatrix reigned from 1980 to 2013 and she is the daughter of Queen Juliana and she herself was the daughter of the first queen of the Netherlands Queen Wilhelmina. If Catharina-Amalia does her duty, she will the country’s fourth queen.

One thing that is very similar between both Leonor, Princess of Asturias and Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange is that even if they don’t ascend to their thrones, they each have a sister to take their place. Infanta Sofia of Spain is only a year younger than her sister. Catharina-Amalia has two younger sisters Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, age 12 and Princess Ariane of the Netherlands, age 10.

This next princess will literally be the first Queen monarch in Belgium. Princess Elisabeth of Belgium is the oldest on this whole list. She will turn 16 later this month. Her parents came to the throne in the same year as the Dutch royals. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde ascended onto the throne after King Albert II abdicated in 2013. The Kingdom of Belgium was started with King Leopold I. He was originally a German prince prior moving to and ruling Belgium. He was first married to Princess Charlotte of Wales, daughter of King George IV. He was the uncle by marriage to Queen Victoria and an maternal uncle to her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

One of the similar things between these next two countries is that only one queen has ruled over them: Margaret I, who died in 1412, ruled over Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Princess Ingrid of Norway is thirteen and is the daughter of Crown Prince Haakon and his wife, Crown Princess Mette-Merit. Now our final princess is Princess Estelle of Sweden and she is the youngest as she is only five years old. Her mother is Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who is also the heiress apparent to the Swedish throne and Estelle’s father is Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland. This hasn’t happened in Sweden before, where two future queens will take the throne back-to-back. So technically, we end this post with six future queens!

Do you find the upcoming monarchs interesting? Or are you like me and find the medieval Kings and Queens more fascinating?

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4 thoughts on “The Young Queens.”

I’m really enjoying these posts Meghan, love them! I think like you, I’ll always enjoy the more medieval Kings and Queens, but I find it all interesting. Nice to learn a bit more about the monarchs of the other countries too, as I had no idea! – Tasha

Yeah but I also feel kind of limited too because I don’t know much before Edward IV and Richard III and after Elizabeth I. However, after Queen Victoria my knowledge comes back to me! But I tend to know more about British Kings & Queens 😦 but learning just slowly